Hindu Marriage Act

[Mel&Lal 12]

Not sure where to post this at and I figured this would be the best place since here soon we will start the CR-1 process.

I been doing lots of reading about the Special Marriage Act and the Hindu Marriage Act and decided it would be best to go for the Hindu Marriage Act. Now I want to make things clear before I head to India in April. As I was reading and to my understanding and please correct me if I am wrong, that I can go to the temple convert to Hinduism, get certificate of conversion from the priest who is going to marry us and then we can get married, go and register our marriage and submit our documents to show that we solemnized our marriage. Now it mentions about a gazette officer who witness the marriage ceremony. So do we need to hire this person or can we have affidavit from witness? Both my fiance and I don't want any kind of mistakes. I would love to hear how others went though this process!

[Ryan H 3,815]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to India regional forum; topic is country specific.

[Mel&Lal 12]

Thanks

[Kat&Abhi 42]

I would be careful, we were originally going to go for hindu marriage act but we were denied. It didn't matter that we had documents they said that all foreigners HAD to go by the special marriage act. Not sure if that is true or not, but the office in Pune would not allow us to have our marriage registered by anything except the special marraige act. I would say be ready with plan B in case they do the same thing for you!

we ended up paying 20k Rs to have our marriage registered under the special marriage act on the same day rather than waiting the 30 day waiting period so it can be done quickly if needed and you have the funds to make it happen.

[Mel&Lal 12]

Thanks.....my fiance contacted this one place in Delhi.......can't think of it right off the top of my head, but there was an article written about inter caste marriage and how a lot of couples are getting at this place. They said they will marry us for 30,000 rupees and mail items required to my fiance and they will also help with registration too.

[mav11235 10]

Not sure where to post this at and I figured this would be the best place since here soon we will start the CR-1 process.

I been doing lots of reading about the Special Marriage Act and the Hindu Marriage Act and decided it would be best to go for the Hindu Marriage Act. Now I want to make things clear before I head to India in April. As I was reading and to my understanding and please correct me if I am wrong, that I can go to the temple convert to Hinduism, get certificate of conversion from the priest who is going to marry us and then we can get married, go and register our marriage and submit our documents to show that we solemnized our marriage. Now it mentions about a gazette officer who witness the marriage ceremony. So do we need to hire this person or can we have affidavit from witness? Both my fiance and I don't want any kind of mistakes. I would love to hear how others went though this process!

I am sorry to bring disappointing news to you but from a strictly religious perspective you cannot "convert" to Hinduism, either you are a born Hindu or you are not a Hindu. You can "re-convert" to Hinduism if you had given it up for some reason but you cannot "convert" to Hinduism. I am from a family (North Indian Brahmins of highest order) with very strict Hindu values so I know what I am saying on this matter. This has been widely accepted by Hindu scholars since no widely accepted Hindu scripture talks about any formalities to convert to Hinduism. So there is no scripture to specify formalities for the process and hence it is considered not possible. The general belief is that either you are a born Hindu or not a Hindu at all.

However legally there might be some workaround/loophole to get around this because there are also no precedents in the scriptures against the conversion. So you might want to check these laws if any exist or else your "conversion" might be considered invalid. In general it might be better to avoid Hindu Marriage act in your case. Don't go by what a "common" priest says, he might just be trying to make some quick cash, go by what the law says. Consult a good marriage attorney if needed.

[Mel&Lal 12]

I am sorry to bring disappointing news to you but from a strictly religious perspective you cannot "convert" to Hinduism, either you are a born Hindu or you are not a Hindu. You can "re-convert" to Hinduism if you had given it up for some reason but you cannot "convert" to Hinduism. I am from a family (North Indian Brahmins of highest order) with very strict Hindu values so I know what I am saying on this matter. This has been widely accepted by Hindu scholars since no widely accepted Hindu scripture talks about any formalities to convert to Hinduism. So there is no scripture to specify formalities for the process and hence it is considered not possible. The general belief is that either you are a born Hindu or not a Hindu at all.

However legally there might be some workaround/loophole to get around this because there are also no precedents in the scriptures against the conversion. So you might want to check these laws if any exist or else your "conversion" might be considered invalid. In general it might be better to avoid Hindu Marriage act in your case. Don't go by what a "common" priest says, he might just be trying to make some quick cash, go by what the law says. Consult a good marriage attorney if needed.

Thanks for the reply and I thought the same thing as well, your either born Hindu or not, but after reading the Hindu Marriage Act "

Registration of Marriages which have already been solemnised.

Q1. What is the procedure for Solemnization of marriage / Registration of marriage?

i. Procedure for Registration under HMA.

ii. Procedure for Registration under SMA.

iii. Procedure for Solemnization of marriage under SMA.

Q. Where do I have to go and during which hours?

To the office of Additional Divisional Magistrate in whose jurisdiction any of the husband or wife resides, during 9.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. on any working day. The office is located in the DC office complex on main Mehrauli Badarpur Road and near Anupam Appt. for assistance of public, recption counter is manned during the offical hours for proper guidance. Necessary forms can also be obtained from Reception Counter or can be downloaded from this site.

Q. Which papers/documents/fees, do I have to take with me?

1. Hindhu/Special marriage Application form duly signed by both husband and wife. 2. Hindhu/Special marriage Documentary evidence of date of birth of parties (Matriculation Certificate / Passport / Birth Certificate) Minimum age of both parties is 21 years at the time of registration under the Special Marriage Act. 3.Residential proof of husband and wife . 4.In case of Special Marriage Act, documentary evidence regarding stay in Delhi of the parties for more than 30 days (ration card or report from the concerned SHO). 5. Hindhu marriage Affidavit by both the parties stating place and date of marriage, date of birth, marital status at the time of marriage and nationality. 6.Two Hidhu/Special marriage passport size photographs of both the parties and one marriage photograph. 7.Marriage invitation Hidhu marriage card, if available. 8. Hidhu marriage If marriage was solemnized in a religious place, a certificate from the priest is required who solemnized the marriage. 9.Rs. 10/- in case of Hindu Marriage Act and Rs.15/- in case of Special Marriage Act to be deposited with the cashier of District and the receipt should be attached with the application form. 10.Affirmation that the parties are not related to each other within the prohibited degree of relationship as per Hindu Marriage Act or Special Marriage Act as the case may be. For details of such relationships Click here. 11.Attested copy of divorce decree/order in case of a divorcee and death certificate of spouse in case of widow/widower. 12.In case one of the parties belong to other than Hindu, Budhist, Jain and Sikh religions, a conversion certificate from the priest who solemnized the marriage(in case of Hindu Marriage Act). 13. In case one of the parties is a foreign national, no objection certificate/marital Status certificate from the concerned embassy.

Here is the website I got this from. http://dcsouth.delhigovt.nic.in/registeration_marriage.htm. I read this over and over again as well as my fiance.

[Kat&Abhi 42]

I am sorry to bring disappointing news to you but from a strictly religious perspective you cannot "convert" to Hinduism, either you are a born Hindu or you are not a Hindu. You can "re-convert" to Hinduism if you had given it up for some reason but you cannot "convert" to Hinduism. I am from a family (North Indian Brahmins of highest order) with very strict Hindu values so I know what I am saying on this matter. This has been widely accepted by Hindu scholars since no widely accepted Hindu scripture talks about any formalities to convert to Hinduism. So there is no scripture to specify formalities for the process and hence it is considered not possible. The general belief is that either you are a born Hindu or not a Hindu at all.

However legally there might be some workaround/loophole to get around this because there are also no precedents in the scriptures against the conversion. So you might want to check these laws if any exist or else your "conversion" might be considered invalid. In general it might be better to avoid Hindu Marriage act in your case. Don't go by what a "common" priest says, he might just be trying to make some quick cash, go by what the law says. Consult a good marriage attorney if needed.

I agree and even if you follow what guidelines and bring all the documents they have listed online they still might not allow you to register under the HMA (just depends) but for SMA there is no reason they can deny registering your marriage. Just something else to think about.

At this point, I think you still need to figure out who this "gazetted officer" is since I have not heard of that either and whats your reliable plan B incase you run into issues with plan A.

I think the last thing you want is to get all the way over there and run into some snag and have to leave without having all the proper papers in order which that means your time was pretty much wasted!

[sachinky 465]

My husband and I spoke to a lawyer before getting married and he suggested that since U.S. immigration would be involved at some point, it would be best to do things as properly as possible and to avoid any hiccups, we registered via the Special Marriage Act. No issues whatsoever.

I do agree with the comments stated above - I know they allow "conversion to Hinduism" under the Hindu Marriage Act but really, religiously speaking, there is no converting to Hinduism. You are either born a Hindu or you're not. You cannot become one. Hinduism, unlike other major world religions, does not believe in proselytizing.

[Mel&Lal 12]

I agree and even if you follow what guidelines and bring all the documents they have listed online they still might not allow you to register under the HMA (just depends) but for SMA there is no reason they can deny registering your marriage. Just something else to think about.

At this point, I think you still need to figure out who this "gazetted officer" is since I have not heard of that either and whats your reliable plan B incase you run into issues with plan A.

I think the last thing you want is to get all the way over there and run into some snag and have to leave without having all the proper papers in order which that means your time was pretty much wasted!

I agree but the problem is I know SMA will not be good for us due to a unique situation which I don't want to discuss on this form. I know there is no true conversion into Hinduism but this is our best bet unfortunately.

[Kat&Abhi 42]

I agree but the problem is I know SMA will not be good for us due to a unique situation which I don't want to discuss on this form. I know there is no true conversion into Hinduism but this is our best bet unfortunately.

well i hope it all works out for you! Maybe someone else can come with some more insight too about the HMA. I guess your only plan B would be to get married in the US then if you get all the way over there and they refuse to do HMA.

I will ask my hubby if he knows anything about the gazetted officer since I have never heard of it!

[Mel&Lal 12]

well i hope it all works out for you! Maybe someone else can come with some more insight too about the HMA. I guess your only plan B would be to get married in the US then if you get all the way over there and they refuse to do HMA.

I will ask my hubby if he knows anything about the gazetted officer since I have never heard of it!

This is also problem, he was denied his k1 visa for not convincing the CO of relationship but most of the questions was about my ex husband...my fiance felt uncomfortable. So this has to work

[sachinky 465]

With a denied K1, this is going to be an uphill battle for you, to put it quite bluntly. It seems that there's an age gap - how significant is it? How'd you two meet? What consulate are you going through? The Dilli Embassy is quite tough.

Edited February 18, 2014 by sachinky

[Mel&Lal 12]

With a denied K1, this is going to be an uphill battle for you, to put it quite bluntly. It seems that there's an age gap - how significant is it? How'd you two meet? What consulate are you going through? The Dilli Embassy is quite tough.

There is only a 5 year age gap....me being the older. We met online livemocha.com about 3 years ago. He has to go though Mumbai Consulate. I been to India twice last year. One visit just a month from when the interview was set. They denied the K-1 for the CO was not convinced of relationship. My fiance said he got uneasy at the interview when they asked alot of questions about my ex-husband. Unfortunately we both know that me being divorced with kids are most likely red flags. His dad is very unhappy with me becoming a daughter in law, along with alot of friends which he has lost due to this relationship. So its pretty sad that he will have hardly no family members coming to our wedding. His mom and siblings want to be there but they wont come due to dads feelings. If we are denied again, we both discuss that my younger son and I will move to India.

[Kat&Abhi 42]

There is only a 5 year age gap....me being the older. We met online livemocha.com about 3 years ago. He has to go though Mumbai Consulate. I been to India twice last year. One visit just a month from when the interview was set. They denied the K-1 for the CO was not convinced of relationship. My fiance said he got uneasy at the interview when they asked alot of questions about my ex-husband. Unfortunately we both know that me being divorced with kids are most likely red flags. His dad is very unhappy with me becoming a daughter in law, along with alot of friends which he has lost due to this relationship. So its pretty sad that he will have hardly no family members coming to our wedding. His mom and siblings want to be there but they wont come due to dads feelings. If we are denied again, we both discuss that my younger son and I will move to India.

If you are able to move to India, why not do it now before getting denied? If you move and get married in India ASAP then you can be added to all his bank accounts, rental agreements, health/life insurance even his mobile bill etc as his wife. This will only help your case as it shows that he has taken steps to mingle finances etc with his wife. I think that in the long run it should help alot because if his family is against you but he has taken the measures to add you to his accounts then it shows a strong relationship even in the absence of family support.

Just something to think about if you have the option/ability.